Colsey's Scoring Skills Have Come a Long Way
Roy Colsey III is driven. Whether he's driving the 800 miles every weekend to play indoor lacrosse for the New York Saints in the National Lacrosse League or bearing down on a goalkeeper on a breakaway, Colsey knows his way.
And he loves it.
He jumps in his 1992 Saab with his two pitbulls, Diesel and Tondra, and
drives from his home in Hanover, N.H, to his mother's house in Westchester. He
drops off the dogs and heads for Long Island to play for the Saints.
"It's a hectic pace but I don't mind at all," Colsey said. "The driving is
exhausting but I'm making more money playing for the Saints than I am teaching.
I'm living what most lacrosse kids can only dream about."
Colsey, 27, is the Saints' leading scorer for the second straight season.
He finished third in the NLL with 37 goals last season and is on pace to easily
top that total. He has 20 goals through the first five games for the Saints
(2-3), including six against Rochester in a 14-13 overtime loss Jan. 12.
"I didn't score more than 10 goals in my first two seasons in the league,"
said Colsey, who is in his fifth year. "It's difficult to learn how to finish
on offense in the box game. The goalies are bigger and the goal is smaller. You
have to learn how and when to fake to make your shots and put the ball away."
Colsey, who is 6-0, 205 pounds, said his goal is for the Saints to start to
put away some of their opponents and make the playoffs for the first time in
three years. They get a chance Saturday night when they play the two-time
defending champion Toronto Rock at 7:30 at Nassau Coliseum. The Saints will be
looking for Colsey, their most potent offensive weapon.
"Roy is as consistent a scorer as there is in this league," said Saints
coach Sal LoCascio. "He's a leader on the floor and the one player that the
other guys look for to score the big goal."
Colsey was an all-state player at Yorktown Heights High School in
Westchester and a four-time All-America midfielder at Syracuse. While at
Yorktown Heights, Colsey was instrumental in two wins over Garden City that led
to State Class B championships.
He also was selected to play for the Bridgeport team in the inaugural
season of Major League Lacrosse, which starts in May.
"What's really tough is that I want to live the rest of my life in [the New
England area]," said Colsey, who plans to move to Woodstock, Vt., in the near
future. "So the traveling is always going to be arduous. But I also want to
play lacrosse for the rest of my life."
Colsey makes the 15-minute drive from Hanover to his teaching job across
the Connecticut River at the Hartford Middle School in White River Junction,
Vt., where he teaches physical education in grades seven through nine.
"I enjoy teaching," said Colsey, who earned his masters in elementary
education from Mercy College. "When I get home Mondays after school I usually
go right to sleep."
He trains in the offseason with his father, Roy Colsey Jr., in North Salem,
N.Y., and enjoys snowboarding and golfing. But it's lacrosse that really
drives Colsey III, who wears No. 3 for obvious reasons.
"The long drive to my mom's is not so bad," Colsey said. "I can stop
anywhere for a rest and the dogs are fine with the back seat down. And I
definitely don't need a car alarm."
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